


I Have No Idea Where To Go From Here

by WhisperOfWarmth



Series: Fodder for the Future [10]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Darth Tantrum and his Evil Space Ginger, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylux - Freeform, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Random & Short, Short & Sweet, Soft Kylux, Starkiller Base
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-25 08:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16194233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhisperOfWarmth/pseuds/WhisperOfWarmth
Summary: A conversation between two members of the First Order, after a seemingly insurmountable tragedy rocks their midst.





	I Have No Idea Where To Go From Here

Hux sat on top of the table in the dark conference room, his hands folded in his lap, staring down at the floor. He had just held a meeting with those that remained of his officers, briefing them on their current travel plans, and discussing their course of action for the near future.

Now, everybody gone, he sat at the edge of the cold square table, trying to force himself to come to grips with his emotions regarding the events that shook the Order to its core.

He tried, but his mind wouldn’t allow him to feel or think much of anything. He was operating and thinking mechanically; and he supposed, for this, he should be grateful.

He lifted his head as one of his lieutenants entered the room, a pensive expression on his face. Some dim part of his consciousness told Hux to brace himself, because the man’s demeanor clearly conveyed that he had bad news to tell. But then again ... what could be worse, than what had already happened?

The lieutenant was there, to give him a status update on the Supreme Leader’s apprentice, Kylo Ren. The man’s injuries were quite extensive, following a battle with two members of the Resistance (one of which had been the treacherous FN-2187, the renegade former stormtrooper, that — but no, no, Hux couldn’t allow himself the luxury of emotion to think about it just then). Hux had him sent to medical bay before his meeting, with an order to update him hourly on his status.

“Sir, Lord Ren ... he is ... unresponsive.”

Hux looked at him sharply. “Do you mean to say that he is unconscious?”

“No, Sir. He is not reacting to outside stimuli, nor responding to our attempts to communicate with him. Yet our efforts to remove him from the bath have been futile, as anyone who gets close is thrown backwards, presumably with the Force.”

Hux allowed himself a low sigh, and he touched his fingers to his forehead, rubbing. Although he would never show this to a subordinate, he was mentally and physically exhausted. The last time he had been to his chambers for longer than to change clothes, he wasn’t sure. The last time he had been to sleep, he couldn’t remember. He knew that it was at least a full day before the explosion of Starkiller, though; or perhaps it was ... 2 days before? 3? Time had become a maddening, insufferable blur.

Nevertheless, he had duties to attend to. Although he was more than put out that he had to go and fix the issue with Ren, he recognized that nobody else had the authority (or the bravery) to do so.

Entering the small, windowless section of medical bay where Ren was, was like something out of a nightmare. Tubes of fluid and shards of glass were smashed along the ground, several droids were dismembered and scattered in pieces around the room ... and the worst thing of all was Ren.

He was sitting cross-legged in one of the large cleansing tubs, the water just touching his chest. His shoulder, both arms, and his face were still unstitched and bleeding out, making the water a deep, unsettling red. Blood from the cut on his face was dripping slowly in streaks down his eyeball, giving him the pink-eyed pallor of a drunkard. Ren was staring blank-eyed at the wall in front of him. He didn’t seem to notice his wounds, and his eyes didn’t even flicker as Hux cautiously approached him and stood in front of him.

This was awkward, in more ways than one. Hux had only seen Ren’s face one time before, and seeing it now made Ren appear more naked to Hux than the fact that he was, in actuality, without a stitch of clothing on.

“Ren.”

Nothing, not even a glimmer of recognition.

Hux braced himself and stepped forward, leaning down so that he was looking directly into Ren’s face.

“Ren. You have to get out of here.”

Still, nothing.

Hux sighed, and decided to take a different approach.

“Kylo,” he said, using Ren’s first name for the first time ever, “Let me help you. We need to get you out of this water, it’s not healthy to sit in blood. We need to get your wounds sewn together. You need nutritional sustenance, and you need a proper rest. Let me help you,” he repeated, holding out his hand.

To his surprise, Ren’s eyes suddenly focused, and he took hold of Hux’s hand, allowing himself to be pulled out of the tainted water.

Only once he was on his feet, he didn’t let go. He was, in fact, gripping Hux’s hand hard enough to hurt him.

So Hux dealt with this as best he could. He found a towel to wrap around Ren’s middle, obscuring his nudity. He quickly signaled the medical droid and had it get to work on tending to Kylo’s wounds. He sat on the chair next to Ren, having no choice but to watch the grim procedure, as Ren still wouldn’t release his hand. But to his credit, Ren didn’t so much as twitch, as the tiny needles went pulling through his flesh.

Eventually, however, the silence got to be too much for Hux, and that combined with the horribly uncomfortable sensation of having his hand held led Hux to open his mouth and start speaking.

“Starkiller is gone,” he said, and immediately wondered why he had done so. What an odd thing to comment on, of course Ren knew that the base was destroyed; he had been on it during its final moments.

“It’s gone, and, honestly, I have no idea where to go from here.”

Another surprise; he found that telling Ren these things made him feel better. He had been holding in his emotions on the matter, and was somewhat relieved to finally get them out.

“Snoke expects me to come to him with plans for moving forward, when we reach him in several days. I ... I don’t know where to begin. We’ve lost so much, and so many of my men are dead ...”  
He sighed, shaking his head. “They trusted me, Ren. All of them trusted me to keep them safe, but I insisted they stay and defend the base until ... until it was too late to evacuate.”

He stopped to rub his temples with his free hand. The droid had finished sewing Ren up, and was now administering a Bacta dressing to the outside of the stitches.

“I put everything I had into Starkiller,” Hux continued after a moment. “It was like my child. But I suppose you already knew that; you’ve confronted me about my ‘obsession’, as you referred to it, more than once.”

Ren still didn’t reply, or even look at him; yet Hux knew, he felt, that Ren was absorbing every word that Hux spoke.

“I despise not knowing what my next move will be. Being unsure, indecisive, is a weakness. I know this. I have to be strong. Everybody looks to me, to see how to act in a situation like this. If I fell apart now, so would everyone else. But, Maker, I don’t know how much longer I can hold myself together.”

“Everything will be okay.”

Hux was startled, and he looked at Ren in shock. Had he finally spoken? Or had Hux imagined —

“Everything, will be okay,” Ren repeated, as if hearing the doubt in Hux’s mind. He loosened his deadly grip on Hux’s hand, changing it to a surprisingly soft, reassuring squeeze, before letting it go and standing up. The drugs made him a bit unsteady on his feet, and it showed, in his swaying stagger. He made his way over to the cot the droid had prepared for him, and laid down on his unbandaged side, pulling the covers up to his neck.

Hux looked at him a few moments longer, before hastily standing himself, making his way to the exit. When he got there he turned around, and said,

“I’ll be back to check on your progress in the morning.”

Ren didn’t respond, but he did nod.

Hux turned and marched off. Just before he reached the exit, Kylo’s voice reached him, soft, steady,

“Thank you.”

Hux paused, smiling a little. 

“You’re welcome,” he answered back, before continuing on his way.


End file.
